Resident Evil 4 HD Review

So I get to go back and play Resident Evil 4 in HD. It wasn’t my favorite Resident Evil game but I do appreciate what it did for the series, it’s too bad most of its predecessors couldn’t keep up with it.

Just to get it out of the way for people who are wondering what’s the difference with the HD one compared to the original, this is not a Remaster like the ones for GameCube where they completely remade it. It’s the exact same game ported but with a few enhancements. The HD is just up-scaled. The added Anti-Aliasing and filters so the models looks less jagged in HD. The textures are still all the same resolution so they are just stretched. That being said it doesn’t look terrible and looks a lot better than it would if you hooked up a PS2 or GameCube to your HD monitor. It is also ported to work with 360 so options are changed up and of course Achievement’s. Now there isn’t much they could do to hack into the game to make interactive achievements so it’s basically just completionist achievements for games modes, etc.

Nothing really has been added in terms of gameplay but this review is reviewing the game as a whole so if you already played it you probably could stop reading now. Resident Evil was a pivotal Turing point in not only the Resident Evil Series but in video games in general. Before it no one could imagine putting so much game on the platform at the time. The first chapter’s levels are pretty simple and boring but as the game progresses it gets a lot better. This game offered up some puzzles and keeps a bit of the classic level design in older RE games where you got to figure out what you need to progress. Even during the annoying babysitting missions where you got to protect the AI controlled girl I felt it worked pretty decent. A very simple, Wait/Follow Me commands so you can keep them out of danger, once you get the hang of it it’s not so bad. The controls will be very hard for people who never played it to go back and use but once you get the hang of it you will be fine. The enemies are the toughest RE has ever seen. No more slow moving zombies, you are fighting against infected humans that can think and attack like anyone else, they have weapons and some can even kill you in one hit. It really makes you have to run away a lot if you can.

This game was one of the first games to push a game forward with QTE (Quick Time Events) to make the cut scenes less of a movie and make you feel like you have some control. This by today’s standards has run its course but at the time was really innovative if used correctly, I feel this game even though it used QTE a lot that it used them well. The bosses are pretty fun and can be really hard too and really pushes the Resident Evil series. Most games you can’t wait for the next boss but in this game every boss you get to you hope you never have to fight another one for a long time.

The story probably wasn’t the greatest one I ever experienced but it did introduce some nice enemies though. I felt the dialog was very cheesy and kind of took away from making it a series game with a series mission. After beating this game again after 8 years I was pretty surprised how long it was, it’s at least 20+ hours for a normal run but the game does a good job of making you want to finish it. It might not appeal to newer gamers but any old school Resident Evil fans that haven’t played this game yet might be able to appreciate it and it’s a decent port.